Estate Planning Documents Every Family Should Know About
A small set of documents does most of the work in protecting a family when someone can no longer make decisions for themselves, or after they pass away. Here’s what each one does, verified against California Probate Code directly.
Durable Power of Attorney (finances)
Governed by Probate Code Division 4.5 (§§4000–4545). This document lets someone you name (your “agent”) manage your financial affairs.
What makes it “durable” is specific language — Probate Code §4124 requires language showing intent that the agent’s authority survive the principal’s incapacity (for example, “This power of attorney shall not be affected by subsequent incapacity of the principal”). Without that language, a POA ends automatically at incapacity by default — the single most important thing families miss.
It must be either notarized or signed by two qualifying witnesses (§§4121–4122). There’s an optional statutory form built into the Probate Code itself (§4401) — families can use that form, modify it, or use an attorney-drafted alternative.
This is exactly the kind of document an elder-law or estate-planning attorney should help you get right — see our guide to choosing an elder-law attorney.
Advance Health Care Directive
Governed by Probate Code Division 4.7 (the Uniform Health Care Decisions Act, beginning at §4670), with an optional statutory form at §4701. It lets you name a health care agent and record your wishes in advance.
It’s signed by the principal, and either notarized or witnessed by two qualified witnesses — with specific rules: at least one witness must be unrelated to the principal, have no interest in the estate, and can’t be the named agent, a treating provider, or a related facility employee.
This is exactly the kind of document an elder-law or estate-planning attorney should help you get right — see our guide to choosing an elder-law attorney.
POLST is legally different — families confuse the two constantly
POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) is a medical order, not a standalone legal planning document — it requires a physician’s, nurse practitioner’s, or physician assistant’s signature to be valid, alongside the patient’s (or their legal decision-maker’s).
An Advance Health Care Directive is signed by the principal alone (with witnesses or notarization) and tells your agent and doctors your wishes in advance. POLST is your doctor writing current standing medical orders based on your present condition — typically used when someone has a serious illness now.
The current official POLST form (2017 revision, still current as of today) is maintained by the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California at capolst.org.
This is exactly the kind of document an elder-law or estate-planning attorney should help you get right — see our guide to choosing an elder-law attorney.
Revocable living trusts
A revocable living trust only controls assets actually retitled into the trust’s name — real property re-deeded, accounts retitled — or that name the trust as beneficiary.
An unfunded or partially-funded trust does not avoid probate for whatever wasn’t retitled. This is the single most common estate-planning mistake — signing a trust document and assuming the work is done, without actually moving assets into it.
This is exactly the kind of document an elder-law or estate-planning attorney should help you get right — see our guide to choosing an elder-law attorney.
When formal probate isn’t needed
Verified directly against the Judicial Council’s own current table — effective for deaths on or after April 1, 2025, and next adjusting April 1, 2028:
- A simplified small-estate affidavit can be used for personal property up to $208,850 (Probate Code §§13100–13101).
- A simplified affidavit for real property up to $69,625 (§13200).
- A simplified court petition is available for a primary residence worth up to $750,000 (§§13151–13154, raised by AB 2016 in 2024).
Note: the correct current personal-property figure is $208,850. $239,700 is circulating on several third-party sites and is incorrect — don’t rely on it.
This is exactly the kind of document an elder-law or estate-planning attorney should help you get right — see our guide to choosing an elder-law attorney.
Special needs trusts
SSI has a hard countable-resource limit of $2,000 for an individual (unchanged, not inflation-indexed). A direct inheritance that pushes a disabled beneficiary over that limit terminates SSI eligibility — and often Medi-Cal along with it, since SSI eligibility frequently auto-links Medi-Cal.
A properly drafted special needs trust — where the beneficiary can’t demand principal directly — is excluded from that countable-resource calculation. But the drafting has to be right, which is exactly why this needs an attorney rather than a DIY form.
This is exactly the kind of document an elder-law or estate-planning attorney should help you get right — see our guide to choosing an elder-law attorney.
Conservatorship
When there’s no power of attorney or advance directive in place (or it’s insufficient) and someone can no longer make decisions for themselves, a family may need to petition the probate court for a conservatorship (of the person and/or the estate). This is a court process: a petition is filed, a court investigator interviews the proposed conservatee and reports neutrally to the judge, then a hearing is held where the proposed conservatee has due-process rights — they can object and request counsel.
This is a different thing from an “LPS conservatorship” (a separate, mental-health-specific process) — don’t conflate the two.
Sacramento County Superior Court has a combined Family Law & Probate Self-Help Center / Family Law Facilitator’s Office (at the William R. Ridgeway Family Relations Courthouse), which explicitly lists conservatorship assistance among its services, plus a standalone probate conservatorship information page at saccourt.ca.gov/probate/conservatorship.aspx. This is a free starting resource for families who can’t afford an attorney for a straightforward conservatorship filing.
This is exactly the kind of document an elder-law or estate-planning attorney should help you get right — see our guide to choosing an elder-law attorney.
This is general information, not financial or legal advice. Statutory figures and procedures change — confirm current details with a qualified elder-law or estate-planning attorney, or the court itself, before you rely on them.